White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt isn’t just catching heat for her talking points these days — she’s now a meme. Her latest press briefing threads the needle between “unintentionally funny” and “propaganda broadcast extras,” with social media users ripping her outfit choice as disturbingly familiar to authoritarian TV anchors.
At a recent briefing, Leavitt stepped behind the lectern wearing a boldly colored ensemble that immediately set the internet ablaze. Critics weren’t talking policy, they were talking wardrobe — with one viral post comparing her look exactly to the signature attire of Ri Chun-hee, the long-time face of North Korean state television.
Journalist Aaron Rupar kicked off the firestorm on X, tweeting that Leavitt’s outfit “bore a resemblance” in color — and by implication tone — to Ri’s unmistakable broadcast wardrobe. That post exploded, racking up hundreds of thousands of views as other users piled on with memes, comparisons, and remixed side-by-side photos.
It wasn’t just one or two jokers either. The punchline took hold fast: a spokesperson for the most powerful government on Earth was now being visually likened to the chief mouthpiece for arguably the most repressive regime on the planet. That leap from serious policy communicator to pop-culture punchline didn’t happen because of what Leavitt said — it happened because of what she wore.
And don’t think this was a fringe corner of the internet. The comparison lit up major liberal pundits, conservative commentators mocking it as “peak cringe,” and everyone in between questioning just what the hell was going on with Trump’s wardrobe department. One commenter dryly noted that the colors “probably don’t help” when paired with messaging that media critics already describe as boilerplate state propaganda.
This isn’t Leavitt’s first foray into internet virality — she’s been at the center of other controversies, from viral text message exchanges with reporters to fashion critiques tied to geopolitical irony — but this one bites because it’s visual and relentless. Online, style choices aren’t trivial; they’re political signals. And in this case, the signal read loud and clear: out of touch, tone-deaf, and unintentionally hilarious.
Whether Leavitt or her handlers planned the outfit as a bold statement or just plain misread the room, the optics blew up in real time. On a platform where anything can go viral in minutes, getting roasted for looking like a dictatorship broadcast host might be *worse* than no one paying attention at all.
